The
Turnpike Trusts set up a network
of new roads across the county with tollgates at regular intervals where
travellers would have to stop and pay a toll or fee before travelling
on the next stretch of road. The charges varied depending on the vehicle,
and farmers herding animals along the road had to pay for each one.

The Breconshire tolls were the
highest in South Wales and farmers bringing animals to market
might find that they had to pay for each animal at more than one tollgate.
All
the main roads into Builth had tollgates, so unless you were just walking
you would have to pay to come into the town, and then pay again to come
out ! (The map above shows Builth's Eastern tollgate around 1840.)

Farmers
and drovers who herded animals for miles across country took
to using hill tracks to avoid paying high fees every few miles.
The turnpike roads in early Victorian
times did improve travel though, and the Royal Mail used these roads to
speed up the time it took to get letters around the country.
In 1844 the Turnpike Trusts were abolished
in the area.

To see what happened when local people
became angry at having to pay these tolls visit the section on the Rhayader
Rebecca Rioters.